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Going Global
Miller School leaders usually bring an educational, clinical, or research focus to their jobs.
Then there’s interventional cardiologist Eduardo de Marchena, M.D.’80, B.S. ’75, who maintains a much more global perspective. Associate dean for international medicine and medical director for the International Medicine Institute, de Marchena hews to a worldview that has helped create a 44 percent increase in UHealth international patients over the last two years. Along with attracting greater numbers of patients from every corner of the globe, de Marchena is also tasked with burnishing the Miller School’s presence and influence worldwide.
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| Through the charitable foundation he formed with his late wife, Marjorie, Irv Cowan supports the Miller School’s Osteoporosis Center, led by Silvina Levis, M.D., and many other UM programs. |
“The concept of the institute is to enhance all of the missions of the medical school on an international basis—including education, research, and clinical care,”
de Marchena says. “We felt the best way to let the rest of the world know about the Miller School was to highlight our strengths in education and research. This strategy would also allow us to expose international markets to the many clinical skill sets within the Miller School.”
Assisted by a staff of 30 employees,
de Marchena leads the International Medicine Institute’s UHealth International, the International Education and Training Division, and the International Research Division.
“We have affiliations with two hos-pitals in Colombia, where we’re doing
things related to research and education,”
de Marchena notes. “Some of our doctors will eventually be doing clinical care there.”
Embracing medicine and an international mindset comes naturally to de Marchena, whose surgeon father relocated first to Cleveland, then Baltimore after
leaving Cuba with young Eduardo and the rest of the family.
The institute has finalized a consulting agreement to help develop a new hospital in Abu Dhabi, part of the United Arab Emirates. De Marchena’s team will help design the hospital and may help run the facility, as well as recruit and develop medical personnel.
The International Medicine Institute also has academic relationships with several institutions in Italy, as well as a research and affiliation agreement with an institution in Turkey. Joint venture possibilities also beckon in Trinidad, Romania, and South Korea. In the Bahamas, where the Miller School is doing a telemedicine project,
de Marchena notes that “a couple of us, myself included, have gotten medical licenses and may start doing a percutaneous aortic valve replacement program.”
“It’s really great how fast things are moving,” de Marchena adds. “Despite the sluggish economy, our growth has been very robust. We’re hoping that continues.” |
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